During manufacturing of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs), semiconductor wafers are subjected to multiple processing steps at different processing equipments. For example, to complete the fabrication of an IC chip, various steps of deposition, cleaning, ion implantation, etching, and/or passivation steps are generally carried out in different processing equipments. Therefore, fabrication facilities generally include transportation systems such as an automated material handling system (AMHS) for transporting the semiconductor wafers among the processing equipments.
Further, in a fabrication facility, a carefully controlled environment when transporting the semiconductor wafers is important due to the delicate nature of the chips. Abnormalities in vibration, temperature, humidity, or level of contamination along the route of transportation increase the risk of unexpected particles or features formed on the wafers and decrease the yield rate of the manufacturing process. Therefore, there is a need for monitoring one or more environmental parameters when transporting the semiconductor wafers.